Recap: The veteran Recon Corpsmen engage the Female Titan.

Gee’s Thoughts: This is the moment everyone’s been waiting for. After running away and cunning plans have failed, it’s time for the Levi’s best troops to show what they’re made of. It’s an exciting moment and for just a brief second, just like Eren, you want to believe Petra and have some faith in her and the others. They’re quick, coordinated, and ridiculously competent. There’s a very good reason these four (well, now three) individuals are considered the best of the best.

And who knows, if Eren had transformed to help them out or if they had been slightly more prepared, they might have actually won.

Instead, we’re treated to a couple minutes of fancy tactics only for our hopes to be completely shattered by the sheer skill and power of the Female Titan. Indeed, anyone who thought a woman who constantly shouts “HAVE FAITH” was going to survive this series was fooling themselves. With Auruo, Eld, and Petra dead, Eren finally overcomes his fear and transforms. It’s an interesting message that Titan is trying to tell us. Rather than believing in the power of friendship, Eren quickly learns that in the end, the only person he can truly rely on is himself. While it’s a somewhat heavy-handed way to subvert the usual Shonen cliche, it’s effective at reminding us that Titan is not a particularly upbeat show. It’s particularly heartbreaking to see Levi’s reaction to his fallen comrades. As established before, Levi cares deeply about the lives of his soldiers, but for the sake of his own survival, must steel his heart and move on. One can only imagine how common this occurrence is for him.

And all those complaints about Titan skimping on the budget? Well this episode is clearly where they were saving it all. More than half the episode is nothing but Titan fighting, and while there are still a few apparent shortcuts, it’s a frenzied and exciting clash that had me on the edge of my seat. Seeing Eren’s Titan form overflowing with murderous rage as it attempts to tear the Female Titan limb from limb is awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, while Eren may finally have control over his Titan form, it’s not enough against the Female Titan’s experience and tactics, which easily dismantle Eren.

Thankfully, Mikasa’s berserker rage manages to slow the Female Titan enough for Levi to catch up. Looks like next week we’re gonna see just exactly what the two most skilled soldiers in humanity’s entire army are capable of when working together…assuming Mikasa’s fury doesn’t get the better of her again.

Overall, this was an exciting episode, the kind of climax one eagerly waits for after nothing but setup and tension building. While the Female Titan arc hasn’t ended, this scene was the culmination of everything that was happening in the previous episodes and it’s awesome in all its splendor. While Titan could have probably afforded to pace things better, I was never too bored and even if I was, this episode made it all worth it. In addition, mad props to whoever mixed this episode’s soundtrack. The way various leitmotifs and themes from the soundtrack are mixed to evoke tension and emotion was immensely well done. Within seconds, you have rousing victory themes turning into dark preambles. It’s a joy to see good sound design in anything and Titan knocked it out of the park this episode.

My only concern now is that with Studio Wit having blown its proverbial load on the fight between Eren and the Female Titan, I wonder how they’re going to wrap things up. With the manga still ongoing and the Female Titan arc only two-thirds done at best, it’s going to take some creative editing and writing to finish Titan’s second season on a satisfying note. With basically every arc ending with some kind of cliffhanger, I can only imagine that Titan’s anime will end with some sort of hint towards the future. Who knows, if it does well enough, it might even get that third season later down the line.